A 3D Bioprinted dECM/CSCA/SA/NC Hybrid Scaffold for Myocardial Infarction Healing

In recent years, the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has risen annually, among which acute myocardial infarction is a common, critical, and severe disease in clinical practice. Advances in tissue engineering and 3D printing have enabled biological scaffolds to emerge as a novel therapeutic approach for cardiac repair in AMI treatment. This study fabricated 3D-printed scaffolds using a porcine cardiac decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM)/caffeic acid-grafted chitosan (CSCA)/sodium alginate (SA)/nanoclay (NC) bioink, characterized by its physicochemical properties and cytocompatibility. Four bioink formulations with varying dECM concentrations were tested, with optimal printable parameters determined as 10% NC, 1% CSCA, and 1.5% SA. The 3D-printed sheet scaffolds exhibited abundant porous internal structures. For scaffolds 0D10N1.5SA, 0.5D10N1.5SA, 1D10N1.5SA, and 1.5D10N1.5SA, swelling rates were 220.99 ± 7.49%, 216.33 ± 8.02%, 207.43 ± 8.71%, and 202.30 ± 13.5%, respectively, while elastic moduli were 38.62 ± 2.25 kPa, 32.98 ± 2.67 kPa, 29.46 ± 1.70 kPa, and 19.68 ± 2.07 kPa. All scaffolds demonstrated good hydrophilicity and mechanical properties. In the biocompatibility test, it was observed that the number of cells on the scaffolds increased gradually with the increase in culture time. In particular, when the content of dECM increased, the number of cells also increased accordingly. More importantly, the cells could migrate into the scaffolds to form scaffold materials with biological functions. These results not only verify the excellent biocompatibility of the scaffold but also demonstrate its clear potential for applications in the development of cardiac tissue engineering scaffolds and implantable therapeutic devices following myocardial infarction.